1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to surgical instruments and more specifically to an assembly for holding a surgical blade that improves the safety of using such blades.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical instruments and, in particular, blades are required to be extremely sharp in order to make incisions and the like. Unfortunately, the sharp instruments are a safety hazard to the people who use them. A cut to a doctor, nurse, or other medical personnel exposes the medical person to viruses and other infections that can enter the person's body through the open cut. Additionally, the cut may cause blood to contaminate the blade which exposes other persons, including patients, to the risk of exposure to these harmful contaminants.
Some viruses are lethal; for example, there is no known cure for infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and HIV is known to infect human blood. AIDS is a terminal condition, killing those who have acquired it by destroying the immune system so that the infected sufferer dies from AIDS related symptoms, such as pneumonia, that their body is unable to fend off. Because of the risk of such deadly infections, there is a long-felt need for medical instruments that are safe to clean and use.
One cause of injury by surgical tools is caused by a blade that is not securely held in place in its handle. Surgery tends to be very stressful on the cutting instrument due to odd cutting angles that are sometimes necessary and the force required to make an incision. Prior art surgical devices exhibit a tendency for the blade to be dislodged from its holder in such a situation. The inventors of the present invention have made the critical recognition that a significant factor contributing to this problem is that prior art surgical instruments hold the blade secure in only one direction. Thus, a substantial force introduced in another plane on the blade may dislodge it from its handle.
Another type of injury caused by sharp surgical blades occurs when the are being placed in or removed from their handles. Typically such blades are placed in a handle and a nut is tightened around a securing member to hold them in place. The nut is usually tightened with an open-end or boxed-end wrench. Any slippage by the operator, when tightening the nut, immediately exposes the operator to the risk of being cut by the sharp blade. A similar risk exists when the blade is being removed with such a wrench. What is needed is a wrench and blade handle assembly combination that allows for insertion/removal without exposing the operator to the risk of injury. Furthermore, such an advantage provided with a blade handle assembly that also prevents the slippage of such blades during operation would be a significant advancement in the art.
Because of the risk of exposure to contaminants in human blood, described above, it is essential that all instruments used in surgical operations be cleaned thoroughly before being re-used. Since a wrench used to remove the blade may become contaminated it must be cleaned after use. However, the inventors have made the critical recognition that there is a tension between the need to somehow shield the operator from the blade during insertion/removal and the need to clean the wrench because a wrench configured with extra parts for such prophylactic measures will be more difficult to clean than one that has no cover. Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to provide the advantages described above while enabling easy cleaning of the entire assembly including the wrench.